Recorded in the spellings of McClurg and McLurg, this long-established surname is of early medieval Scottish origin, although equally well known in Ireland. It derives from the Gaelic patronymic "MacLuirg", itself translating as the son of Lurg. Lurg itself means footman, but this is a reference to a soldier rather than an occupation. The name has royal associations in Ireland where it was an early import. Loiguire Lorc, was an early king of Ireland in the 9th century. Surnames derived from given names are the oldest and most pervasive surname type, and Ireland was one of the first countries in which a system of hereditary surnames arose. The seal of the first recorded bearer of the name "MacLuirg" (see below) bears a leaping squirrel, and the lettering "S'Gilb'ti Maclurc". In 1476, Andrew Maclurg, a landholder in St. Andrews, was recorded in the "Register of the Great Seal of Scotland", and in 1526, William McLurg, a follower of the earl of Cassilis, was respited for murder. John McLurg who issued "a seditious gazette from his coffeehouse in Edinburgh" (1681), was noted in the "Register of the Privy Seal of Scotland", and Claverhouse's great villain, Mkclorg, the smith of Menegaff, is mentioned in the Red Book of Menteith (1682). The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Gilbert Maklurke, who rendered homage to the King of England, which was dated 1296. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop", often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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